Ken McPeek | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ken McPeek Plotting Courses For Four Kentucky Derby Hopefuls

Trainer Ken McPeek has four Kentucky Derby hopefuls in his barn, his largest number in 37 years of conditioning Thoroughbreds. According to the Daily Racing Form, two of those four have become workmates: G2 Kentucky Jockey Club winner Smile Happy and G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Tiz The Bomb.

The pair has breezed in unison at Gulfstream Park for the past two weeks, both earning a four-furlong time of :48.90 on Jan. 8, and Tiz The Bomb recording a slightly-faster three-furlong time of :37.84 on New Year's Day (Smile Happy was clocked in :38.46).

Smile Happy (Runhappy) will be aimed at the G3 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 5, while a prep race has not been decided upon for Tiz The Bomb (Hit It A Bomb).

Dash Attack (Munnings), winner of the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, will remain in Hot Springs to point toward the G3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 29.

Meanwhile, G1 Breeders' Futurity winner Rattle N Roll (Connect) has not yet returned to breezing since missing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile due to a minor injury, but McPeek believes there will be plenty of time to get the colt on the Derby trail.

Oaks Prep: Promising Cocktail Moments Faces Turf Filly California Angel In Inaugural Untapable Stakes

Dixiana Farms and trainer Ken McPeek enjoyed a memorable moment, and perhaps a cocktail or two, after their promising filly ran off the screen on debut during the “Stars of Tomorrow” card at Churchill Downs. Now they can only hope that Cocktail Moments can take the next logical step in the inaugural running of the $100,000 Untapable Stakes over a 1 1/16 miles distance that is foreign to her. Restricted to 2-year-old fillies, the Untapable offers 10-4-2-1 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

Dismissed at odds of 26-1 on Nov. 27, the 2-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo was an unhurried tenth of 12 in the early stages of her debut. Nearing the turn of the seven furlong contest, she made a bold move while still in hand and was hung six-wide before engulfing her foes in the stretch and drawing off to win by 9 ¼ lengths, leaving the betting public stunned.

“They (the public) never bet me first time out, it's ok,” McPeek said. “I typically allow a horse to take some dirt in the face. In a way the debut is kind of a schooling race for me. I've had a list of horses in my career that we sent first time out and it blew their mind, so I just don't like doing that, gunning them away from there. For what, my ego? My win percentage?”

“Some of them win,” McPeek continued. “We've had a nice list of first timers this year that won from a little bit off the pace. That helps in their development. It's worth getting beat on occasion for their long-term development. That's always been my approach.”

Installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite, she'll join forces with jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. for her first route try from post 5 of 8 on Sunday.

“I think she'll handle the route without any trouble,” McPeek said. “She's still got some learning to do. She acts like she's got the turn of foot where if she gets in a nice rhythm and kicks on, that should be fine. Eric Heitzmann, my former assistant, is going to saddle him for me. She had a nice maintenance breeze at Fair Grounds on Wednesday. Four weeks after her maiden win, it's perfect timing for us to be there.”

The unquestioned class of the field is Chris Walsh's California Angel. Purchased for just $5,500 as an Ocala OPN 2-year-old in training, this daughter of California Chrome has already far exceeded expectations, upsetting the Jessamine (G3) on the Keeneland turf on Oct. 13 at odds of nearly 18-1. She would follow-up finishing 11th of 14 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Del Mar, but she was only beaten four lengths by the winner. In her lone dirt start in career start number two of four, California Angel finished a late closing third of 11.

“I'm not worried about the dirt,” trainer Leonard said. “She'll handle the dirt just fine. I just put her on the grass and it happened she liked the grass but we're confident she will run well on the dirt.”

Having worn blinkers in all of her previous starts, California Angel will not wear the hood on Sunday. With Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. piloting her for the first time, the 4-1 second choice will leave from post position two.

“She didn't need them,” Leonard explained. “I think with the blinkers, she was looking around and couldn't see enough. She's ready for that. Hopefully she'll lay closer not as far behind with the blinkers off. She's maturing and growing a little bit. Nothing I haven't seen before. She's still the same. Doing very well. I think she will run really well.”

With a post time of 4:35 p.m. CT, the Untapable is scheduled as race 10 on the 13-race card. The remainder of the field with post position, jockey/trainer and morning line odds is as follows: Columbine Stables' Fannie and Freddie (post 1, Colby Hernandez/Al Stall, Jr., 9-2 ML), a dominant local maiden winner in her first try last out; Mike Dini's (owned & trained) Alittleloveandluck (post 3, Jereth Loveberry/Dini, 12-1 ML), a last out maiden winner against Florida-bred company on the Gulfstream Park Tapeta; Elements Racing's Implosion (post 4, Mitchell Murrill/Steve Margolis, 10-1 ML), the winner of a sales restricted maiden special weight event two starts back at Churchill Downs; Miacomet Farm's Feeling Happy (post 5, James Graham/James Baker, 8-1 ML), who is 3 for 3 in the money with her lone win coming in a sales restricted maiden special weight sprint at first asking at Churchill Downs in late September; Jeff Ganje and Omar Aldabbagh's Shotgun Hottie (post 7, Florent Geroux/Tom Amoss, 6-1 ML), a maiden of a sales restricted race in her first try around two turns last out at Churchill Downs; and Rebecca Hillen, Stonecrest Farms and Bruno De Julio's North County (post 8, Adam Beschizza/Brendan Walsh, 9-2 ML, who is perfect from two starts, both routes, over turf and Indiana and then slop at Keeneland. — Kristufek

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McPeek Shopping For Yearlings in Argentina

More so than perhaps any top trainer in the sport, Ken McPeek is always thinking outside the box. And he's at it again. McPeek is in the midst of a three-day excursion to Argentina, where he is shopping for yearlings.

It's not at all uncommon for American trainers to buy yearlings overseas, but to do so in the Southern Hemisphere is largely unchartered territory. That's because Southern Hemisphere horses are born primarily in the months of August, September, October and November. For U.S. racing purposes, they turn a year older every Jan. 1, meaning they will be considered 2-year-olds when they may be no more than 13 or 14 months old. It's a huge disadvantage for a young horse, and one they may not be able to overcome until they are into their 4-year-old season.

“These are horses you have to be very patient with,” McPeek acknowledged.

This isn't the first time McPeek has shopped for young horses in South America. He bought Einstein (Brz) (Spend a Buck) as a yearling at auction in Brazil in 2003. Trained by Helen Pitts and managed by McPeek, Einstein, who made his debut in the fall of his 3-year-old year at Keeneland, went on to win five Grade I stakes and earn $2.9 million.

He came back all these years later in part because of the strength of the U.S. dollar in relation to the Argentine peso. One U.S. dollar equals 101.72 pesos.

“The U.S. dollar is extremely strong right now against the Argentine peso, so there could be some real value buys,” McPeek said. “The dollar is so strong that it is a buyer's market.”

There are no major yearling sales at this time in Argentina. Instead, McPeek has been going from farm to farm looking to buy horses privately. He says that is a common practice in Argentina. He plans on visiting six farms before returning to the U.S. Thursday.

“We are looking at all the top breeding farms down here,” he said Monday. “We haven't decided yet what we're going to buy, but today I looked at over 100 yearlings. Some of the farms we are looking at, they have horses with extremely high-quality pedigrees.”

As of Monday, he had yet to decide how many horses he was going to buy or how much he was going to spend. Much of that would depend on how many horses he saw that checked enough boxes.

“If I see a horse that is what I call a 'wow horse,' a horse that could run anywhere, then we'll ask for a price,” he said. “We'll see if where they value the horse matches where we value the horse. If the market meets you do business. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Einstein was an exceptional horse. That's what we are looking for over here, exceptional horses.”

McPeek said it will cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per horse to ship them from Argentina to the U.S. Once they arrive, the process will begin and McPeek will not be in any hurry.

“You just have to take your time with these horses,” he said. “They won't start to be prepared until next fall in U.S. When they begin racing they're going to be about six months behind the curve age-wise. They're going to have to start out running against horses that are older than them. What I have found is that a good horse can handle that and an average one can't.”

In time, the Southern Hemisphere horses will catch up.

“The added time you'll have to give them will cost you more, but you also get good value as opposed to overpaying for a horse at the 2-year-old sales,” McPeek said. “If these horses are meant to be stakes horses they'll be stakes horses. If they're meant to be claimers, they'll be claimers.”

McPeek was among the first U.S. trainers to send horses to Europe to race. He went against conventional wisdom with Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) throughout her career, running her twice against males and winning the GI Preakness S. with her. There are numerous examples of him proving you don't need to spend seven figures to come up with a star at the yearling sales. He's not afraid to throw a 70-1 shot into a big race, which is how he won the 2002 GI Belmont S. with Sarava (Wild Again). Now he's buying Southern Hemisphere yearlings.

“I believe a good horse can be found anywhere,” he said. “Sometimes you have to go extra lengths to find them.”

Ha sido un gran placer volver a visitar Firmamento . ¡¡Gracias!! https://t.co/rsSLPvgZaB

— Kenny McPeek (@KennyMcPeek) December 15, 2021

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McPeek: Smile Happy Likely To Target Southwest Stakes En Route To Kentucky Derby

Trainer Kenny McPeek said early Thursday afternoon that he had eight horses stabled at Oaklawn and expects to eventually have “20ish” on the grounds for the 2021-2022 meeting that began Friday.

McPeek has a division of horses at Oaklawn for the first time since 2018, when he won five races from 32 starts. McPeek said Oaklawn's expanded racing calendar was the hook to return to Hot Springs. Oaklawn is opening in December for the first time and has 66 scheduled racing dates, roughly 10 more than past years. Oaklawn had previously opened in mid to late January. The 2021-2022 live season ends May 8.

“The December start date completely changes the complexion of the Oaklawn meet,” McPeek said. “I think it's a big help. You're there longer. As long as they can get the races that you need to go … I know it's a bit of an experiment, but I think it's a really good move on their part.”

McPeek returns to Oaklawn with momentum after winning four races, including the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) with Smile Happy, on the “Stars of Tomorrow II” program exclusively for 2-year-olds last Saturday at Churchill Downs. The four-bagger helped swell McPeek's purse earnings this year to a career-high $6.7 million.

“Had a good meet,” McPeek said. “Had a good fall.”

Smile Happy, a son of champion sprinter Runhappy, remained unbeaten in two career starts with a 3 ¼-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club.

“He's a really, really good horse,” McPeek said. “He's going to go to Florida initially and we're probably going to bring him up for the Southwest and possibly the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby.”

The $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Jan. 29, $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 26 and $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 2 conclude Oaklawn's four-race Kentucky Derby points series.

Smile Happy races for the Lucky Seven Stable of Mike Mackin, who campaigned 2001 Rebel winner Crafty Shaw with now-retired trainer Pete Vestal. Crafty Shaw also ran third in the Southwest and seventh in the Arkansas Derby.

McPeek is scheduled to start three horses Saturday at Oaklawn, including Oliviaofthedesert and Semble Juste in the inaugural $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Laughing Boy, McPeek said, “will probably be entered” in the inaugural $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 11 at Oaklawn. Laughing Boy finished second in a Nov. 25 allowance race at Churchill Downs.

“Horses just shipped in last night, but I'll be there for a little bit,” McPeek said. “I've got a team that's coming from my Churchill barn that's already there. We've only got eight in there right now, so we're getting them settled in. It's taken some time logistically to move everybody.”

With John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs as a major client, McPeek won 40 races in 2012-2017 at Oaklawn, including the $75,000 Arkansas Breeders' Stakes in 2015 with Trace Creek and the $125,000 Spring Fever Stakes in 2017 with Kathballu.

McPeek's last Oaklawn victory came with Swiss Skydiver in the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) in 2020. Swiss Skydiver went on to beat males in the Preakness – the final leg of the revamped Triple Crown – en route to an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2020.

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